


The Joy Of Discoveries (Or: Stan and Bev are the Smartest)

by peachybeeb



Series: The Losers Club University AU [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mild Smut, Multi, Texting, group chats, i’ll put ages in notes, pls read the notes too!!, they’re all 19+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-13 15:29:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21157592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachybeeb/pseuds/peachybeeb
Summary: the incidents in which each loser (and richie) find out about all of their otp, reddie





	1. Beverly and the Blue Balls

**Author's Note:**

> a couple of things: 
> 
> • this is the first part of a university AU series im going to do, just compile a bunch of one shots and longer collections in this series! 
> 
> • eddie and ben are 19, the rest of the losers are 20 
> 
> • this is semi-canon, AU where georgie lives and they don’t forget (i’ll write/explain the backstory at some point if ppl wanna know)

It wasn’t like it was completely out of the ordinary. 

They’d been watching a film in the living room of Eddie, Bill and Mike’s shared house; a regular occurrence since all of the losers had ended up finding two student homes next-door to each other when they all moved to the University of Maine. The losers had flat out _refused_ to allow Richie and Eddie to live in the same house, the countless bickering (and, by extension, flirting) throughout the years of their friendship already being a testament to their patience, but having those two actually living together? Hell fucking no. It’d almost been three months since second year began now, with their current housing arrangement decided upon. Ben, Beverly, Stan and Richie renting one house, and the other losers as their neighbours. The infamous Trashmouth and reluctantly named ‘Spaghetti Man’ had pouted about not being able to live together the whole ride back to university to embark on the second year of their studies; but none of the other friends had seemed to notice the positioning of the pairs’ bedrooms in each house upon moving in. Because of fucking course their bedroom windows were about two meters apart, not saving the rest of the losers from any sort of relief they may have had with this infallible living arrangement when they heard the two bickering from their windows only _fifteen minutes_ after moving in. 

Beverly yawned sleepily as she lazily scanned over the bright TV screen, some flick playing about a twin brother and sister that she couldn’t remember the name of. _’The Skeleton something...?’_

Her attention shifted from the film to briefly scour the room and take-in her friends. Bill, Mike and Stan were sandwiched together on the loveseat, somehow looking extremely comfortable despite their very impractical positioning. She herself was sharing a bean bag with Ben, who she caught staring at her, before he sputtered something unintelligent and adamantly focused on the large screen as if it were the most interesting thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Not even the dim glow could hide the red flaming across his cheeks, though (that thought made her smile). 

And, lastly, were Richie and Eddie. The taller of the pair was sprawled across a recliner, babbling quietly to a very sleepy looking Eddie that was sat in his lap. No one blinked an eye any longer at how affectionate the best friends were, waving it off as _’Oh, Richie and Eddie? They’re just like that. They’ve always been like that’_. Bev watched the smaller man’s face scrunching up to be more and more irritable, knowing sleepy Eddie was also a very angry Eddie. There was a silent rule amongst the friends that there were two crucial times one did not interrupt the smallest loser. One, was just before he was falling asleep, and two, when he was _actually_ asleep. It was a very strange circumstance, as tired Eddie seemed to be when he was most affectionate and sweet to his friends as well; it was as if he was a fluffy Pomeranian that was prepared to transform into a demonic entity at the drop of a hat. Beverly had witnessed only twice in their eight years of friendship the wrath that was an unnecessarily woken up Edward Kaspbrak...it was not a pretty picture. 

Bev frowned as she watched the pinched expression tighten on Eddie’s features with the way Richie continued to annoy him; poking at his cheeks and honking his nose. She was about to jump in and beep Richie until she watched Eddie untangle himself from the other man and stand next to the recliner. She watched in slight awe as a sleepy-Eddie reached out and took one of Richie’s hands before tugging him up as well and retreating from the room; as if he had a collar and leash on the other man. The redhead had managed to catch Richie’s eye just before the dazed-looking man fully departed from the room, seeing the exaggerated wink and eyebrow-waggle he tossed her way. 

A surprised chuckle escaped her as now five of their group of friends resided in the room, a quick survey telling her that either no one had noticed or cared enough about the sudden disappearance. Ben was snoozing quietly next to her now, and Bill had his head in Mike’s lap; also completely passed out in sleep. It was quite a sweet scene, with the latter man gently stroking the sleeping other’s hair in soothing motions. Not wanting to wake the two men from their slumber, she decided to utilise a chat in Facebook they hadn’t used in over a year now. 

-

_’reddie or not? here gay come!’ (Bev, Stan, Mike, Bill, Ben)_

**beaverqueen:** am i the only one that’s noticed eddie and richie yeet out of the room together????¿ 

**Stan:** Oh my god I forgot this chat existed.  
**Stan:** Why aren’t you using the main group chat? 

**beaverqueen:** bcus richie n eddie are in that one and i got hashtag reddie on the brain stanny!  
**beaverqueen:** and i don’t want to wake up baby benny or billy

**mikey:** okay bev that’s highkey cute that you don’t want to wake them up omg 

**beaverqueen:** ikr uwu

**Stan:** Hm.  
**Stan:** I mean, is it really that out of the ordinary for those two to disappear off together? They do it all the time. 

**beaverqueen:** THAT’S MY POINT!! the only reason we haven’t used this chat in so long is bcus we’ve just gotten used to them being this way. there’s defo something going on!

**mikey:** i honest to god didn’t even notice 

**beaverqueen:** see!! im gonna go and check on them. 

**Stan:** It’s your funeral for waking a sleeping Eddie. 

**mikey:** stan fkdsjhs 

-

Bev stuck her tongue out at Stan as she placed her phone in her pocket, receiving a quiet chuckle from Mike at her childish response and a (fond, although he’d never admit it) eye-roll from the victim of her measures. She got up as carefully as possible from her place next to Ben, seeing as he grumbled sleepily but ultimately settled down whilst she snuck out of the room. She was wearing a pair of fluffy bunny slippers Bill had gotten her for secret Santa last year, so her footsteps were hidden beneath muffled silence. 

First, she checked the kitchen, but to no avail. She inwardly cringed at the state of it because of their move night, knowing Eddie would probably faint if he stayed in there for too long so there’s no way they’d be in there. He would definitely be lecturing them on hygiene tomorrow morning. Not giving up on her feat, she moved up the stairs of their house to the hallway where their bedrooms resided. The window at the end of the hallway was facing her own house, the exterior and interior design almost an identical match to Mike, Bill and Eddie’s. She felt a slight warmth in her chest at how far they’d come, all stubbornly applying to the same university and living so close as well. After the events from when they were twelve about eight years ago, they wanted to keep close. They were a family, bonded for life. 

Beverly shook herself from the fuzzy thoughts as she continued down the hallway, passing by Mike and Bill’s bedroom doors respectively and towards Eddie’s that was at the end of the hallway. She heard the faint chattering and music from the television downstairs, humming through the house alike a digital orchestra. The redhead didn’t bother with turning on any lights, not wanting to alarm her friends once she found them. No one wanted a re-enactment of Eddie almost strangling Ben when he once cheerily woke him up for breakfast. 

She had just arrived outside of Eddie’s room when she heard it. If one wasn’t looking for something in particular, they probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Her expression transformed into a frown as if that would heighten her focus as she leaned to gently press her ear to the bedroom door, flinching slightly at the way the worn wood creaked against the small pressure. Inside was a steady, quiet thumping sound, though she was unclear if this was something caused by one of her friends of just the repetitive beat of Arctic Monkeys that she heard playing inside too. 

((start listening to this at this point if u want to be super immersed! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM aka do i wanna know? by arctic monkeys))

That wasn’t _quite_ what caught her attention, however. 

_”How many times did I tell you to shut up, ‘Chee?”_

_”a...Ah! Fuck...”_

_”Answer me, Richard.”_

_”S- Shit...four times. You, you told me, four times.”_

Beverly’s eyes widened at the dark laughter she heard inside, accompanied by a low groaning sound. Was Richie okay? 

_”And what is our rule?”_

_”T- three strikes and you’re out...or...heh, I guess, three strikes and you’re...you’re in, actually. Get it? Cuz you’re- FUCK!”_

A wailing sound cut off whatever Richie was about to say, the sound low and almost alike a cry for help. Had Eddie finally snapped and killed the Trashmouth of their group? Beverly didn’t wait around to find out as she barged into Eddie’s room, absolutely no reservations (the group practically never had any), no knock, nothing. They were absolutely going to have to introduce some sort of sock-on-the-door-handle system, or a post-it note, perhaps? 

The scene Bev broke into was a little more than she ever wanted to see of her friends. Clothes were haphazardly tossed across the floor, the bedsheets messy with the two bodies on top of them. Richie was pressed down into the pillows, practically flush against the bed apart from the cushion wedged beneath him for assumed easier ‘access’. His knuckles were white as they clutched at the blue of the bedding, a red blush drowning his features. His mouth hung open, a stream of lewd sounds escaping him. Trashmouth was right. Eddie was above him, a fierce grip in Richie’s curly hair keeping him pinned down. The smaller of the two men was almost laying on top of him, the only thing preventing that being Eddie’s hand pressed to Richie’s hip in a bruising grip. His own features were tense, an attempt at control. 

In other words, Eddie was absolutely _hammering_ into Richie. 

“Oh my GOD!” Beverly said almost too casually, a smug grin on her lips. The sudden intrusion causing the two men to freeze from their ministrations on the bed. Eddie looked absolutely mortified, a deer caught in headlights, whereas Richie looked as if he was about to burst into laughter. “You listen to arctic monkeys when you fuck?” 

“BEV GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” Eddie practically shrieked, grabbing a pillow to cover both himself, and by proximity, Richie’s ass, from their friend’s view as he scrambled back from the taller man (resulting in a very pained hissing sound from Richie). It was his turn to blush as he used a blanket from the end of his bed to wrap himself up in, as if his friend hadn’t already seen far too much. 

“What’s wrong with arctic monkeys?” Richie was the one to pipe up next, sitting up slightly despite the pained look on his expression. Eddie looked as if he was about five seconds away from murdering the man once he continued speaking to Bev, a shit-eating grin on his lips. “If you think that’s bad, Eds here also has Britney Spears on this playlist.”

“Which song?” 

“Toxic, duh.” 

“Ooh that’s a bop,” Beverly agreed. “But what abou-“ 

“Okay,” the sickeningly sweet word from the smallest of the three was enough to break Richie and Beverly’s banter, making both of them look towards Eddie; both holding a shocked expression. “Beverly,” she’d never heard such a dark tone from Eddie and was honest to god _terrified_ of the small creature in that moment. He had a sadistic looking grin that did not hold any amusement or light-hearted nature about it, and his eyes were dark, almost black. Was he possessed? She almost jumped when he continued speaking, lost in a sort of terror-trance. “If you don’t get out of my room in next ten seconds, he,” an accusing finger was shoved at Richie’s chest, now causing the taller man to reflect the deer-in-headlights act. “Is never, and I actually mean NEVER, getting fucked again.” 

There was a tense ten, fifteen seconds, when nobody moved a muscle. It felt as if time had briefly stood still, the reality of the situation Beverly had just discovered truly beginning to settle in. Richie was the one to break the ice, stumbling to cover himself with another blanket from the bed and giving Beverly shoves towards the door, mumbled sounds of _’He’s not fuckin’joking you need to leave’_ and slightly complained whines enough to make her laugh and oblige her friends’ requests. She stood in the hallway once Eddie’s bedroom door had been slammed in her face, staring at the wooden framing for a moment until her feet began to carry her back down to the living room. A single thought was ripe in her mind: 

_’I knew it!’_

-

“Well, you guys owe me 20 bucks each, because Richie is _definitely_ not a top,” she didn’t care much anymore that she was waking the others from their snoozing once she re-entered the living room, the announcement on her lips drizzled with pride and mirth. Ben looked at her blearily, clearly the deepest in sleep and not having a clue what she was talking about. Stanley looked mildly peeved from the disruption, whereas Mike and Bill merely squinted at the ginger as she plopped back down in her space next to Ben. 

“Bullshit...” Bill was the one to speak up, looking as giddy as Beverly felt. He clearly thought this was some sort of joke she was engaging in by the look on his face. 

“Bull-_true_,” she fired back with that same winning grin, managing to annoy Stanley further with the way she exaggeratedly laughed. The joyous sound was interrupted by another guest entering the living room, and Beverly turned to witness a very irritated looking Richie walk in and practically falling on the floor next to her; arms crossed and eyebrows drawn in a frown. 

There was a general murmur of greeting to the tall man before the new awakened losers turned back to the television. Beverly left it a beat or two before she leaned close to Richie in order to whisper:

“Got a nasty case of blue balls, huh?” 

In which two middle fingers were aimed at her faux-innocent smile with a hissed “Fuck you Beaverly! Learn how to fuckin’knock!” 

Her laughter continued louder than before as Richie continued to stew about the “sleeping” man upstairs.


	2. Stan and the Sexting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor stan...not much to say just...i apologise in advance. a few notes tho: 
> 
> • eddie isn’t just saved as ‘eddie’ on richie’s fb messenger but i wanted the name reveal to be a surprise at the end lol

Stan was the next victim in the infamous ‘Reddie Discovery Of ‘19’ (as Beverly was to coin it in years later). 

The rather stoic man had been brewing a coffee in the kitchen on a peaceful Saturday morning, approximately one week after the rather strange movie night. He’d easily caught on to the way that Beverly, Eddie and Richie were acting a bit strange. Well, the way Bev and Eddie were acting a bit strange, and Richie was acting _stranger_ than usual. He tried not to think anything of it, but his buzzing brain wouldn’t quite allow him respite from those thoughts. He kept quiet for now, stewing and allowing his friends to get on with whatever they were hiding. Knowing Richie and his big mouth, it’d be out in the open soon enough. 

He felt an insistent buzzing in his pocket, dazzling him out of his deep thoughts as he checked his phone with a swipe of his thumb across the screen. 

-

**(2) New Messages from: Bill**

_9:08am_

**Bill:** hey stan! 

**Bill:** im just at the store, do u need anything? 

_9:32am_

**Bill:** im leavin soon!! last chance 

-

Stan almost smacked himself as he fumbled to unlock his phone, blaming his stupid old cell for not alerting him sooner. He was halfway through responding to Bill with: _’Can I have some frozen corn, please’_ — when said-shit phone cut to black, and died in his hand. Fleeting thoughts of hungry ducks and other avery he’d be seeing at the nearby park later on passed through his mind, and the curly haired man decided the best decision was to ask for Richie’s help. 

The thought made him _shudder_ with distaste as he made his way towards the other’s bedroom. He honestly would’ve asked Ben or Beverly, but he had seen the two off for breakfast at a nearby diner half an hour ago. Now he’d never admit it, but he loved his best friend dearly — however, that didn’t stop Richie from being the most infuriating person Stan had ever met. Asking Richie for help meant entering Richie’s bedroom, something only a few brave souls have dared to do. He knew Eddie only ever went in there to clean it (or so Stan thought), and he just prayed to whoever was listening that the small spitfire had recently done a decontamination of the room. 

He practically ran up the staircase and jogged down the hallway to Richie’s room, his eyes scanning over the various posters and stickers plastered over his door. Stanley chased away a pestering thought of what their landlord might think as he rapped his knuckles against the door a few times before opening it up. The room was dimly lit due to the sunlight streaming past the gay pride flag Richie had turned into a makeshift curtain over his window; casting an array of colours over the floor. It wasn’t as messy as Stan had been expecting. A few shirts and magazines were decorating the floor, but no old food, dirty dishes or wrappers were to be seen anywhere. _’Eddie definitely came and cleaned yesterday’_ Stanley thought quietly to himself as he moved towards Richie’s bed. A faint smell of paint in the air guided his eyes towards a small setup the other had stationed just below his window. The hardwood floors were plastered with newspaper and plastic wrap, Richie’s disassembled skateboard lying in the centre of it with paint pots and brushes surrounding it alike to some sort of shrine offerings. It was actually looking quite good, and Stanley was quietly impressed with the little doodles and graffiti starting to cover every square inch of the clear deck.

He shifted his attention from the happenings in Richie’s bedroom instead to his sleeping friend. He was out like a light still, despite it being close to ten in the morning, Richie was much more of a night owl than an early bird. Stanley looked at him for a moment, watched the peaceful scene and listened to the quiet snoring of his friend, before shoving him roughly. 

“Wh- AH! It wsn’t me...” The black haired man jolted awake with a slight outburst, groaning once his eyes focused on Stanley towering over him like the grim reaper. He tossed his forearm over his eyes, shielding his sleepiness from the light beginning to pour more heavily into his bedroom. “What the fuck Stan it’s like six in the morning!” 

“It’s literally almost ten,” The curly haired man was quick to retort, his eyes rolling as if conditioned to do so whenever Richie spoke something borderline ridiculous. “I need to borrow your phone to text Bill, he’s at the store and mine just-“ 

Richie’s sleepy hand had been blindly searching for his phone on the nightstand whilst his friend spoke, and he wasted no time cutting off the other man by pushing the device at his chest. “Yeah yeah whatever jus’take it and go I’m _exhausted_.” The whining tone caused Stan to scrunch his nose in fond irritation as he plucked the phone from Richie’s hand, watching briefly as the other rolled over dramatically in his bed and...was he...already asleep again? 

Stan shut the door behind him and moved back into the kitchen to continue nursing his coffee, not wanting that to be completely ruined. The brew was still warm and rich as he took a sip before turning on Richie’s phone. He leaned back against the counter as the bright lights met him, eyes widening slightly at the picture of Richie’s lock screen. Clear as day, it was Eddie. He was wearing what looked like one of Richie’s hoodies with how big it was on him, one that Stan had seen plenty of before. He was positive it was Richie’s favourite. Their small friend was smiling, looking sleepy and slightly red in the face. The photo was very candid, as if Eddie wasn’t aware it was actually being taken. Stan couldn’t help smiling, the love he felt for his friends (and by extension truly, his family) briefly overwhelming him. It wasn’t too much of a shock to see this on Richie’s phone honestly, especially with how much that man went on and on and _on_ about Eddie Kaspbrak like he required talking about him in order to survive. Pencilling that down as something to tease the two of them about later, he unlocked Richie’s phone and was met with the Facebook messenger app already open. 

And open it was, on none other than Richie’s conversation with Eddie. 

It took Stan a moment to recognise it was Eddie, in fact, but a quick check to the small profile picture in the top left corner validated any curiosity he had. Now, Stan was not a nosey person. Sure, he was more than up for hearing about any gossip Beverly had discovered on her university course, and he did have a guilty pleasure of scrolling through a variety of Twitter drama accounts; but he would never intentionally fringe on his friends’ private lives without their permission. However, this was completely unavoidable, something that he could absolutely _not_ be blamed for seeing. This was what he was telling himself, anyways, when faced with the nude Eddie Kaspbrak had sent to Richie Tozier staring right back at him from the screen. 

-

**(3) New Messages**

_9:35am_

**eddie:** rich

**eddie:** you think you can just send me something like that to wake up to? look what you’ve done to me. 

**eddie:** _actualpictureofeddiesboner.jpeg_

-

Stan squeezed his eyes shut as he took a few deep breaths to calm his reeling mind. He thought he was about to faint with the blood rushing through his brain, a million thoughts zooming through his head at once. They were ranging from _’So that was why Richie, Bev and Eddie were acting weird, right?_ to _’I absolutely knew that they had something going on!’_ to _’Why the fuck is Eddie hung and how do I erase that from my brain?!’_

A buzzing in his fist alerted him again, wanting to rip his eyes out of his skull as he realised this wasn’t in fact, a dream, and he was still in fact, holding Richie’s phone; open to the conversation with Eddie. 

-

**(2) New Messages**

_9:45am (Current Time)_

**eddie:** you finally awake there, baby?

**eddie:** cuz im gonna come over and fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk properly for a week 

-

Stan calmly switched the device off upon reading that. His brain was from then on functioning on auto-pilot as he abandoned his forgotten coffee on the side, legs carrying him upon their own accord up to Richie’s bedroom again. He didn’t bother knocking this time, seeing Richie sat up in bed and playing the Nintendo switch his parents had gotten him for Christmas once he entered, not even taking the slightest notice of Stanley now in the room. 

“Hey- what the fuck! You’re gonna fuck up my score!” Stan had practically ripped the game from his friends’ hands once he’d gotten close enough, concealing it behind his back despite Richie’s efforts to steal it back from him. The half-assed protests were quickly cut short as Stanley pushed Richie’s phone in front of his face, switched on; punishing (or in Richie’s case, Stan was positive the word _rewarding_ was probably much more fit) the other with the same fate Stan was met with just a few minutes earlier.

He ignored the bloom of red across Richie’s features once he had adjusted his glasses and properly registered what he was looking at, beginning to sputter some sort of excuses that were cut dead silent with the way Stanley raised his hand to stop him. 

“Next time you allow someone to borrow your phone, please check that whatever they first open up is not sexts and nudes from your _boyfriend_,” he made sure to punctuate that word, and by the look on Richie’s face and the deepening of colour on his cheeks, he felt it was justified. 

Stanley was expecting some joke or jab, or even an excuse from the other man. By the almost helpless look on Richie’s face he was sure he was attempting to grapple at something like that before he resided with a quiet: “...yea, sorry.” 

He felt a bit bad for the other, seeing he was obviously embarrassed, maybe even a bit scared? Of course he didn’t want to cause any of those emotions in his friend. He wasn’t an overtly emotional or expressive person himself, but he did want to make sure Richie knew that if he had something with Eddie, both himself and all of the losers would be fine with it. “Hey...it’s okay, it happens. It’s...uh...nice, you and Eddie. Yeah.” He supplied very intelligently. Though it seemed to be enough, with the way the tension seemed to physically ease from Richie’s body with the way he almost bashfully smiled up at him. Stan decided it was his turn to take his leave then, turning on his heel, and he’d just made it to the doorway when he realised another plaguing question in his mind. 

“Does Eddie know you have him saved in Facebook messenger as ‘Daddy Long Dick’ ?” 

“...please don’t tell him, I’ll never get laid again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might write a one shot sometime to what happens after this and what richie had sent to eddie as well if ppl want!! give me feedback bcus i love validation

**Author's Note:**

> put an f in the chat for richie. a little easter egg as well is that they’re watching a bill hader film called ‘The Skeleton Twins’ !! it’s fantastic if u haven’t watched it, would highkey recommend. let me know if you enjoyed and if u have any suggestions for stories to take place in this university AU!!


End file.
